One process for forming a sheet metal prototype part, manufacturing low volumes of sheet metal components, or custom sheet metal parts is to build a low production die set for a stamping machine. This process is time consuming and expensive. The die set needs to be built and is limited to forming a specific part.
Incremental forming is a process used for forming sheet metal prototypes, manufacturing low volumes of sheet metal components, or custom sheet metal. An incremental forming machine can be used to form a prototype part by using one or more stylus tools that follow CAD data to form the sheet metal in increments into a prototype part. Incremental forming offers the advantages of low cost, reduced time between design freeze and delivery of prototype parts, and reduced energy consumption. One problem with incremental forming is that even for a small part the blank used must fill the entire binder. This may create excessive scrap and also affect part dimensional accuracy or to sacrifice cycle time to achieve tight dimensional accuracy when making small prototypes. Incremental forming productivity is reduced because the stylus tools can only form one prototype part per fixture set-up. A new blank must be loaded in the binder of the incremental forming machine to make each additional part.
This disclosure is directed to the above problems and other problems as summarized below.